Hay Player

Bella Bathurst

Sound

Hay Festival 2017,
Thursday 1 June 2017

In 1997, Bella Bathurst began to go deaf. Within a few months, she had lost half her hearing, and the rest was slipping away. For the next 12 years deafness shaped her life, until, in 2009, everything changed again. Sound draws on this extraordinary experience, exploring what it is like to lose your hearing and – as Bella eventually did – to get it back. What does that teach you about listening and silence, music and noise? She investigates the science behind deafness, hearing loss among musicians, soldiers and factory workers; sign language, and what the deaf know about these subjects that the hearing don’t. Chaired by Kamal Ahmed.